West Indies gather momentum

Day two of the first Test of the English summer was long, hard and disappoining for the West Indian tourists. Following Andrew Strauss’ overnight declaration, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Bravo and Dinesh Ramdin gave their all to ensure the tables were turned on day three. All three clocked up half centuries in the process of taking the tourists from a tricky position at 187-5, rocked by Monty Panesar’s 4 wickets, to 363-7 at the close.

More worrying for the hosts than the West Indians avoiding the follow on will be the losses of Matthew Hoggard through injury and Steve Harmison’s form, which has been so impressive for Durham this season. None of that was a problem at 11am. Harmison’s first spell was good and Liam Plunkett was very impressive duting the morning session. However, the West Indian openers were also up for today, with Ganga looking impressive and Gayle, in trademark “stand and deliver” style, looking ominous.

Nothing much came of looking ominous, though. Gayle had reached 30 when he backed out of the way of a full pitched Plunkett delivery but forgot to hit the ball. The delivery swung enough to topple Gayle’s off stump and the Jamaican was on his way back to the pavilion.

Devon Smith joined Ganga and looked in good touch also. Like all of the other West Indian batsmen, though, he got a start but wasn’t able to go on. Facing Panesar’s first delivery and playing for the spin, Smith found there was none and the ball duly went on to hit the stumps. His dismissal for 21 shortly before lunch brightened England’s day following Hoggard hobbling off the field of play in his 11th over. The Yorkshireman strained an adductor muscle which will limit his participation in the match.

Coming back after lunch, the wheels fell off for England’s seamers. Plunkett’s afternoon was summed up in one over that started with a huge wide that ran away between first and second slip to the boundary, followed two balls later by a full, swinging delivery that was edged for 4 before the Durham man sent down another massive wide later in the over. And Harmison…well, the less said about him, the better.

Monty Panesar, coming back after lunch and bowling a long, unchanged spell, showed more control and enjoyed more success though. Ganga (49), Sarwan (35) and Morton (14) all padded up to Panesar deliveries that would have gone straight on to hit the stumps, and umpire Asad Rauf had no qualms with giving them out.

With none of the West Indian batsmen going on to make a good score, Shivnarine Chandperaul needed to be at the top of his game. And he was. The unorthodox Guyanan has provided the glue to hold the West Indies batting lineup together for thirteen years now. Today he was rock solid throughout the afternoon, compiling a steady 63 and finishing the day unbeaten. Partnered with Dwayne Bravo, Chanderpaul took the West Indies out of any immediate danger. Bravo was the dominant partner in the partnership of 92, scoring 56 in 59 balls. His innings was the perfect antidote for the lifeless FA Cup final played simultaneously just a few miles away. Bravo bullied Panesar in particular, waltzing down the wicket and sending the spinner to the boundary several times and bringing up his fifty with a straight six off Panesar.

The partnership was eventually broken when Bravo pulled Paul Collingwood, sharing Hoggard’s load with Panesar, to Alistair Cook at deep midwicket. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Ramdin replaced Bravo and set about in the same vein as the allrounder. As the day got later, the batsmen clocked up the runs and saved the follow on. Ramdin particularly enjoyed feasting on Steve Harmison’s generous doses of crap on his way to 60 off 87.

However, Liam Plunkett came back with an improved spell at the end of the day and found the edge of Ramdin’s bat. Paul Collingwood’s safe hands held the catch that made England’s day just seem a little bit brighter. But thanks to Ramdin and Bravo, the West Indian’s day outshone it by several hundred watts.

England 553-5 declared
Matthew Prior 126*, Paul Collingwood 111, Ian Bell 109*
Daren Powell 2-113

West Indies 363-7
Shivnarine Chanderpaul 63*, Dinesh Ramdin 60, Dwayne Bravo 56
Monty Panesar 4-108, Liam Plunkett 2-81